Seth MacFarlane
Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (born October 26, 1973) is an American animator, writer, producer, actor, singer, voice actor, and director best known for creating the animated sitcoms Family Guy, American Dad! and The Cleveland Show, for which he also voices many of the shows' various characters. He studied animation at Rhode Island School of Design where he met co-executive producer and cast member of Family Guy, Mike Henry, which would ultimately lead to the setting of Family Guy, taking place in the fictional Quahog, Rhode Island. He worked for Hanna-Barbera Productions on shows such as Johnny Bravo and Cow and Chicken. He created two short cartoons that paved the way to Family Guy, that bore a striking resemblance to Family Guy itself, titled The Life of Larry, and Larry and Steve. MADtv executives noticed his work and helped MacFarlane get into connection with Fox executives. Fox gave him $50,000 to make Family Guy. He occasionally speaks at universities and colleges throughout the United States, and is an outspoken supporter of gay rights, atheism, and the legalization of marijuana. These supports have been expressed most emphatically in "You May Now Kiss the...Uh...Guy Who Receives", "Not All Dogs Go To Heaven", and "420", through Brian Griffin, a character he performs without any alterations to his normal voice. He appears as himself in Something, Something, Something, Dark Side as a Bespin guard who loads Han Solo, played by Peter Griffin, frozen in carbonite at the time. He also appears as himself in the courtroom scene in "The Simpsons Guy", seated across from Simpsons creator Matt Groening. Seth received an Honorary degree from Harvard University on June 7th, 2006. MacFarlane's major Family Guy roles include Peter, Brian Griffin, and Stewie Griffin, Glenn Quagmire, Tom and Jake Tucker, Dr. Elmer Hartman, Carter Pewterschmidt, Kool-Aid Man, God, and Jasper. He also voiced Jesus Christ before Alec Sulkin joined the show after the revival. He also voices Stan Smith and Roger the Alien on American Dad!, and Tim on The Cleveland Show. The three characters have crossed over into Family Guy. He wrote the episodes "Death Has a Shadow", the "Super Griffins" segment of "Family Guy Viewer Mail No. 1", and "North by North Quahog". He co-wrote, co-hosted, and performed in Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show and hosted "The Family Guy 100th Episode Special". He also sang "As Time Goes By" in "Play It Again, Brian". MacFarlane has taken part in the writing of every single episode of Family Guy in one way or another, although three episodes finished during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike were finished without his input. The above list refers to the episodes for which he wrote the original script. Filmography See listing at IMDB Notes *Seth attended the same art school, The Rhode Island School of Design, as Shepard Fairey who created Obey Giant. A reference to Obey Giant was shown in "The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire" where Peter is re-painting the Sistine Chapel. *Seth is a huge Star Trek fan and appeared twice in minor roles on Star Trek: Enterprise. Despite the many references to William Shatner and his role on Star Trek appearing in Family Guy, according to behind-the-scenes footage of The Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen, he had not met Shatner until that very night. * Seth is also a huge Star Wars fan, which constantly contributes to many Star Wars references on the show. *Seth was scheduled to be on one of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11, which was hijacked on Sept. 11th, 2001 and flown into the World Trade Center in New York City. A combination of being hungover from the night before and a miscommunication with the travel agency caused MacFarlane to miss this flight by 10 minutes. MacFarlane has addressed the issue, stating that Fate is to decide when he is to die, and if it was meant to be that he was to perish on 9-11, he would have been accepting of that. * Seth loves musical comedy and sings in a classical musical theater style resembling the Big Band Jazzy period. He also plays the piano. This is reflected in the show's many musical numbers. * Seth's production company, Fuzzy Door Productions, gets its name from the fuzzy leopard-skin print that was stapled to his dorm room door at college. * A reference to Seth is made in The Simpsons Game. When Matt Groening introduces himself to Homer and Bart, he says "Your creator is TV's most beloved animation visionary!". Homer then replies with "Seth MacFarlane!?". * Seth is referred to by name in "He's Bla-ack!" by one of the characters he voices, Quagmire. * Seth won four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for his work in 2000 as Stewie, and again in 2016 for "Pilling Them Softly", 2017's "The Boys in the Band" and "Con Heiress" in 2019. He also has earned an Emmy with Walter Murphy for Outstanding Lyrics and Music in 2002. External Links *Follow Seth on Twitter *Seth MacFarlane at the [http://americandad.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page American Dad! Wikia] *Seth MacFarlane at the [http://cleveland.wikia.com/wiki/The_Cleveland_Show_Wiki The Cleveland Show Wiki] Category:People Category:Voices Category:Writers Category:Celebrities Category:Production Staff Category:Live action appearances